August is a month of celebrating human milk feeding. Around the world, from many diverse groups, messages and education focus on the importance of human milk for human babies, and empowering the families that provide it. It’s a time when those working in the first food field – who already know that human milk feeding brings so many benefits – try even harder than usual to pass that knowledge on to everyone else.
We at the SAFE Team are content to be a bit quieter than usual and let these education and awareness efforts take center stage in and around August.
Why? Because…
In an emergency, breastfeeding is a survival skill.
We don’t need to clutter social media right now, because what all first food advocates are putting out right now is exactly the message that is needed. When an emergency occurs, direct breastfeeding protects babies from water insecurity and challenges with sanitation. The higher percentage of direct human milk feeding families there are in an area when an emergency strikes, the fewer families need commercial infant formula and all of the extra support that entails, which reduces work for emergency responders while also keeping infants safer.
So advocating for human milk feeding is already one of the best forms of emergency preparedness that we have.
USBC – National Breastfeeding Month (August)
RISE: Resilience, Interdependence,
Self-Determination, Empowerment
Celebrate. Educate. And Accept Our Gratitude.
We encourage you to celebrate and advocate for human milk feeding with whichever variation(s) are most suited to you. Do it knowing that it is not a diversion from the work of ensuring the safe feeding of infants and young children in emergencies – it is a core part of the work.
Learn a bit more about just a few of the other organizations* through their websites, linked below, or the USBC’s links to breastfeeding celebrations.
*Not intended to be a complete list.